The preparation of compounds using a solid phase approach was first described by Merrifield in 1963 [Merrifield, 1963, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 85:2149–2154. Since this initial seminal concept, in which a polystyrene solid phase was used to prepare peptides, a wide range of different solid supports have been used (i.e., polyamides [Atherton et al., 1975, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 97:6584–6585], porous glass [Parr et al., 1974. Justus Liebigs Ann. Chem., pp. 655–666] and microchip quartz [Fodor et al., 1991, Science, 251:767–773]). While useful, these solid phase supports all require a final cleavage step, in which the compounds (peptides, peptidomimetics, oligonucleotides, small organic molecules, various heterocycles, and the like) are cleaved from the solid phase, then separated from the spent solid support.
Where the compound of interest can be used in an immobilized manner (i.e., it remains on the solid support in its final use and/or manifestation), then the remaining solid support may not be problematic, and in fact may be useful for certain assays. However, in the majority of cases, the compound of interest has to be used in solution and therefore has to be separated from its solid support. Significant time and/or cost savings would be realized if the removal of the solid phase material did not have to be accomplished in a separate step following cleavage of the desired compound from the solid support (typically by filtration or centrifugation). The invention disclosed hereinafter provides one solution to the problem of separating the spent solid support from the desired synthesized material.